From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Permanent Appropriations Permanent Appropriations: Budget authority that becomes available as the result of previously enacted legislation (substantive legislation or prior appropriations act) and does not require current action by Congress. Budget authority is considered to be “current” if provided in the current session of Congress … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Date Shifting / Fiscal Transparency / Fiscal Illusion One of the budgetary maneuvers used by Congress. Congress can shift scheduled payments for contracts, or even for federal employee salaries, by a few days in order to move expenditures from one fiscal year to another. For … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Public Debt / Debt Ceiling / Debt Limit Debt Limit – A Guide to American Federal Debt Made Easy Public Debt: Cumulative amounts borrowed by the Treasury Department or the Federal Financing Bank from the public or from another fund or account. The … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Federal Debt The Debt Ceiling Explained: Why You Should Care The federal debt consists of public debt, which occurs when the Treasury of the Federal Financing Bank (FFB) borrows money directly from the public or other funds or accounts, and government debt / … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Off-Budget / Off-Budget Entities / On-Budget Entities David Certner: Social Security as an off-budget program Off-budget: Those budgetary accounts (either federal or trust funds) designated by law as excluded from budget totals. As of 2005, the revenues and outlays of the two Social … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms On-Budget photo credit: neelaka All budgetary accounts other than those designated by law as off-budget. On-budget entities are federal agencies and programs that are fully reflected in the totals of the president’s budget and the congressional budget resolution. Also see Nonbudgetary; Off-Budget / Off-Budget Entities … Read more